The tide has turned against MS Dhoni - once a favourite son of Indian cricket. Not only the former cricketers and his adversaries, even Dhoni's ardent fans are calling for his sacking as the captain of Indian cricket team.

RIDING ON a wave of failures for last several months, the Indian cricketers in general and MS Dhoni in particular have been at the centre of ire of cricket fans and former cricketers. The recent defeat at the hands of English has led to an uproar against Dhoni and this time, even his fans have turned against the wicket-keeper batsman.

His time is over as Indian captain, most of the fans believe. “MS Dhoni must be sacked as the captain of the Indian Test team as he is not doing his job well. His performances of late also have not been good at all,” maintains Pravin Rukhaiyar, an ardent Dhoni fan said.

Dhoni has failed to score a century for a year or so and the closest he came was in the last Test match against England at Nagpur, where he was just one run short of the magical three-figure mark. Team India has also not performed well - the last away tours to England and Australia and the recent loss against England at home - suggest.

Shiv Sunny, who has been watching cricket for last 13-14 years, finds Dhoni ‘unfit’ for Test cricket. “As of now, Virat Kohli is the best option as the Indian skipper. They should have made Gautam Gambhir the captain six months ago”. But he quickly adds that Gambhir can’t be made the captain now, as his confidence has taken a major dip of late.

After loss to Australia and England, many people raised their voices in favour of giving captaincy to Gambhir – both in ODIs and Test matches. But Sunny disagrees and believes Dhoni should be made to continue as captain of Indian ODI team. “He is one of the best batsmen for India in the ODI's,” Sunny says.

There are several things one has to consider as well before Dhoni is sacked. Do we have a suitable replacement for the captain's armband? Neyaaz Farooque, who is not a Dhoni fan said, “I don't like him (Dhoni) as a cricketer, but there is no alternative captain in the Indian team. So he should not be sacked, until we are able to find the right person.”

There are many contenders such as Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. All these players have captained Indian team at various stages such as IPL, Under-19, state teams etc. So, one of them might just be awarded the coveted position, if the BCCI decides to axe Dhoni.

“Kohli is too young for the Indian captaincy job and Gambhir is inconsistent, so captaincy is going to be an additional burden on them,” believes Parag, a cricket fan. Javed Sultan Ansari, another cricket fan also does not see any outright contender for captaincy. “Virat Kohli cannot be given the captaincy role, as he does not have a good attitude,” feels Ansari.

While some cricket fans feel that Dhoni should only be stripped of the captaincy in the Test arena, but Ansari has a different point of view. “Dhoni should be removed as Indian captain from all formats of the game, as there is some politics involved in the cricket team as well, especially related to his relations with Virender Sehwag, which is not good for Indian cricket and thus reflecting on the result,” adds Ansari.